imrik32's page

On page 147 of the CRB it explains the rule for the composite longbow, and I still have no idea what it means.

Everything I've seen with characters online, level 1, starting with a regular composite longbow, use their full strength modifier added to damage. However the wording on the CRB makes it seem like if you have a +3 Str Composite Longbow, you need a 3+ str modifier to use it, and can use 3 of your str modifier and add to damage. I have no idea though because the wording is strange and there is conflicting information on the internet.

Thanks.

Sorry, Blueluck, my suggestions were aimed at the build he quoted from me, not one with lots of fighter levels. I know he stated in the OP he was thinking about taking mostly fighter before dipping Wizard, but I thought that had changed over the thread. On rereading it, I dunno. Haha. Either way, my suggestions are aimed at a character that gets 9th level spells and a CL of 20 by the end and all that jazz...

Yer suggestions are dead on for a character with far less casting.

Also, a Mithral Shirt has a max dex bonus of +6. In mid-levels it very well may be slightly better than mage armor and dex. At later levels when you factor in tomes, level boosts, and items, it swings the other way.

I'm ridiculous. I dunno why I have been under the impression that AMF was evocation. Well that seals the deal against Evocation pretty much now that I know it's Abjuration! Thanks for pointing that out.

Edit: Also, as for armor, just work with your DM to research higher level Mage Armor spells with bigger bonuses. Researching new spells is part of the core rules, and a level 6 version of Mage Armor that gives +8 AC or something isn't overpowered by any stretch of the imagination compared to the spells already out there. Up to DM discretion tho.

Yes, you are correct I have swayed toward the build I quoted for you, and all of your posts were highly informative, and that more or less clears up any questions/concerns I had. If I think of any more I'll shoot 'em in this thread.

Thanks.

EDIT: Now that I read over again, I was wondering about the statement you had for researching a spell into a higher level (ie mage armor). Where in the CRB is that?

There are really two ways to play AA. One is to be an Archer who has spellcasting to buff and for versatility. This way you amp up your damage while being able to cast awesome spells like overland flight etc. Go Strength for this and Int boosting items, which should be easy to get unless your DM is playing a nonstandard style of game. This will amp your damage while giving you enough INT to cast the spells of certain levels when you get them.

The other way is to play a caster who can fall back on archery and use imbue arrow if you want. If you go this route, then you want to drop Strength and focus on getting Int up so that the DCs of your spells is higher. I think that's what Abe is referring to.

Yeah I primarily plan on it being primarily an archer with the versatility that the caster brings as in your first example there.

When you say "go strength" how much strength are you advocating? Also, what would you recommend I drop my ability points into at 4/8/12/etc? I'm assuming dex.

I disagree with Arcane Armor Training. Your Dex will be so high that wearing Armor at all will be counterproductive compared to good ol' mage armor and your Dex.

You'll eventually have such ridiculous Dexterity, that armor will block your max dex bonus, plus it's nice to have your swift actions open for either Spell Critical later on or Arcane Strike, or Quickened buffs.

Also, necromancy doesn't give you much, but if you have enchantment or evocation as opposed schools you lose some staple AA spells such as Heroism, greater heroism, and the biggest AA trick of all, Anti-Magic Field. Wall of Force is also awesome. It's a tough choice what to make your opposition schools, and requires some real thought, after necromancy at least.
My advice would be Necro and Evocation, as you will probably have to use the AMF trick less frequently than buffing with Heroism, but it's a tough call.

Thanks for all of your input, I really appreciate it. I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around going for str versus int though, because it's hard for me to go on the assumption that I'll have a +int item(s) to make up for it to be able to cast those spells.

Would you have any specific recommendations if you don't mind? My (still) intended stats are/were in the OP.

That makes sense, thanks. Do you go off of the BAB to determine those 4 attacks from fighter since that is the first class I took? The chart says +17/+12/+7/+2, so that's where I got that from.

Thanks for all of the help. I got a lot of useful information from that.

Below I'm going to post two posts I saw that a (very helpful) member posted on arcane archers not too long ago on some optimization, and I had a few questions about it, and how it pertains to getting more attacks.

If you are playing till high levels, optimal build is along these lines:

Human
Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 3/Arcane Archer 3/Eldritch Knight +7/Arcane Archer +1

9th level spells, 17 BAB, 5 bonus feats, Spell Critical, Imbue Arrow, Elemental Arrow, Seeker Arrow, and Wizard Specialist powers up to you.

Don't worry about Int too much, jack your Dex and maybe Str instead. As long as you get to 19 int by 20th level (easy with items) you can cast 9th level spells. You're not going to be focused on high DCs. You'll mainly buff yourself or now and then lay down some nasty, saveless AoE control spell with Imbue Arrow.

Start with 20 Dex. Wear some armor at first level. Ditch the armor 2nd level and scribe a bunch of mage armor scrolls (12.5 gp each!), mem buffs like Gravity Bow.

Feats: 1 - Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, 3 - Weapon Focus, 5 - Quicken Spell (buff and full attack later on), 6 - Start getting any extra bonuses to ranged attacks you can amass

For early levels it will seem that your Attack Bonus is suffering, but use buffs to offset this. The 2nd level Dex Buff adds two to your attack, Heroism adds 2 as well. With smart buffing you will be fine compared to what a straight archer could do, maybe even better.

It'd be interesting to see a mathy workup of whether or not you are better off getting 4 damage per arrow from Arcane Strike consistently, or waiting to use Spell Critical. I can say that with 6 attacks per round (rapid shot and haste effect) you should crit once every two rounds on average (Imp. Crit assumed). If you hit with all arrows each round that's 48 damage over 2 rounds with Arcane Strike. Is there a spell to match that, or that has effects worth that? If I were to wait for Spell Critical to go off, I would also probably take anything I could that would help me confirm crits, in case it came on one of my lower iterative attacks.

Those are the two posts, the second referencing the first, that I am curious about. Particularly the part I bolded about 6 attacks. Since (I may be wrong?) eldritch knight and arcane archer do not gain additional attacks as they level up, such as any other class would, I can't really add up to 6 attacks per round in my head. 1 from base attack, 1 from rapid shot, 1 from haste, and that's it. Many shot (if I take it later) gives me more damage but not really another 'attack', regardless, it still only comes out to 4 instead of 3. So either way i look at it, I need to find another 2 or 3 attacks somewhere, and I'm just not sure where they are.

Thanks for any clarification on the matter.

Hey everyone,

So I plan on making an arcane archer for our planned kingmaker group, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions. I saw a thread on here that had a little bit of information but they kind of went the opposite direction that I was going to (as well as taking human, instead of being restricted or elf or half-elf).

Here is my basic rundown, of what I have so far. Basically planned out to level 6 with fighter, before I take 1 wizard then dive into Arcane archer.
It's also a 25 point buy. This is also assuming I take elf.

Str - 10 (+0)
Dex - 19 [17+2] (+4)
Con - 12 [14-2] (+1)
Int - 16 [14+2] (+2)
Cha - 10

I took 19 dex, to round that off to 20 at level 4, and int at 16, so at some point in the future before I hit level 20 I can get 17 int for the level 7 spells taking 6 fighter/1 wizard/13 AA will let me take. Con was just for some extra hp and I had the points floating around. Str is 10 because I chose for the AA not to use the composite bow (which is still tempting though..)

Feats
1 - Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
2 - Rapid Shot
3 - Weapon focus (longbow)
4 - Weapon Specialization (longbow)
5 - Deadly Aim
6 - Many Shot

At here, I planned on dipping into wizard for a level, then shooting straight to arcane archer. I don't have anything concrete planned out for those levels, so any suggestions at all would be appreciated.

Thanks for any and all criticisms.